Various patents describing various related methods of making envelopes with folded enclosures therein have issued in recent years. Among such patents are U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,519 issued to Lyon; U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,138 issued to Walters; U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,596 issued to Jones; U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,895 issued to Volkert et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,643 issued to Higginson. In addition and most recently U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,730, has issued to Bradley et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,731 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,993 have issued to Bradley, all of which are assigned to Bedford Engineering Co., Armonk, N.Y. Of all of these prior patents, U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,933 appears to be most pertinent in that it discloses a method of making an envelope assembly with an enclosure having the Z-type fold which is uniformly used in bulk rate mailing. None of these patents, however, disclose or suggest a cost-effective method by means of which such an assembly can be produced, but in which the letter has a business-fold. Reference is made to columns 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,993, issued to Bradley, which are included herein by reference thereto and which sets out the high desirability of mass producing envelope-letter assemblies at high speeds and low costs, with a personalized element. That patent, however, fails to disclose or suggest any method or means by which the letter portion of the assembly could be formed in a business-fold.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,519 to Lyon, Jr. describes an integral envelope-letter article intended to provide the effect of a personal letter while retaining the ability to produce such letters in sufficient quantities to be economical within the economic framework of direct mail advertising. Jones, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,596, provides a method for producing a mailing piece formed of an envelope and an insert. However, the Jones mailing piece is formed of two separate sheets of material blanked from different webs at different locations and mated in an assembly operation, such methodology being logistically difficult and of a speed which is becoming unacceptable in the industry due to cost considerations.
Jones provides two changes of direction in the manufacture of the mailing piece so disclosed, a first change of direction occurring on insertion of the separate "letter" portion of the mailing piece into an unglued blank with a second change of direction occurring to facilitate application of adhesive to the envelope blank which is followed by folding and sealing of the mailing piece. Changes of direction in such a processing operation inherently increase the time required to manufacture of a mailing piece.
Volkert et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,895 provides an envelope containing a personalized enclosure which is unattached to the personalized envelope, the envelope and enclosure being formed from the same web of sheet material which has been preprinted. Volkert et al do not provide a mechanism within the mailing piece itself during formation which ensures that the envelope and enclosures are maintained in association with each other during folding and severing operations necessary to cause the envelope and enclosure to become separate entities.
The personalization of mail effectively increases the return to the advertiser or other user. Personalized mailings lose a substantial amount of personal value when the person receiving the mailing can easily recognize the mailing as a "form" or "mass" mail advertisement, such poorly produced mailings being often not opened or read by the recipient even though useful and valuable information is contained in the mailing. The use of "computer printout" papers wherein an envelope and "letter" are combined together without detachment and often without even removal of edge perforations remaining from printing from a roll further increases the resistance of a recipient to seriously consider such a mailing as personal mail deserving of close attention.
Accordingly, it has become highly desirable to produce personalized mailing pieces consisting of a personalized envelope and a separate personalized enclosure which are formed from the same preprinted blank of sheet material and which particularity gives the effect of an important, personalized letter or other communication such an a telegram or the like. Further, it is particularily necessary in the production of such mailing pieces that the mailing pieces be produced at a high rate of speed in order than economies can be effected without diminution of the personalized quality of the mailing.
In recent years, business practices have more and more required personalized communications because most business executives receive so much so-called "junk or bulk rate mail" that it is recognized and discarded without any serious attention being given thereto. Executives recognize "junk mail" pieces by the manner in which they are prepared, particularily in view of the fact that business practices have developed in business letter writing what is known as a "business fold". Executives can readily identify so-called "junk mail" as such if it has a Z-fold instead of a business fold. As a consequence, most if not all such Z-folded mail may be summarily discarded without examination or reading of same.
A "business fold" is described as the prescribed manner in which a secretary is taught to fold and insert a dictated business letter into an envelope, and involves first folding the signatory portion of the letter inwardly and then subsequently folding the salutation portion of the letter thereover and inserting the same into the envelope in such a way that the letter has three layers, with the signatory portion in the middle and the salutation portion opening upwardly as the letter is withdrawn from the envelope, when the latter is opened at the top and is held with its backside up.
Thus, it is desirable, for obvious reasons, to be able to produce at high speeds a cost effective personalized letter which is mechanically folded, addressed, and disposed within its envelope assembly in a business fold so that it cannot be readily detected as having been machine-produced as one of large quantities in a continuous process. No one has heretofore disclosed or suggested a method of cost-effectively producing such an envelope assembly, despite the readily recognizable desirability of being able to produce such letters in large quantities and in a continuous operation. Our invention provides a cost-effective method of producing large volumes of such an envelope assembly with the letter having the above described "business-fold" and being disposed within the envelope during the formation of the latter as a direct result of the method of manufacture.